Dwindled funds, membership force SU club skating out of competition
SU’s club synchronized ice skating dropped to seven members, disqualifying the squad from competition. Without travel events scheduled, the team practices a couple of times a week and is mainly funded by individual dues, members say. Courtesy of Orange Experience Synchronized Skating
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When the first blade cuts through the freshly frosted ice, it’s never the only one. The echo of ice skaters fills the Tennity Ice Pavilion as the girls take the ice. Hand in hand, they perform flawlessly and always together.
Community is one of many aspects Syracuse University’s Synchronized Figure Skating Team offers, said Maggie O’Donnell, its team manager. However, she says the team has recently been operating on insufficient funding and a loss of general interest.
“The lack of funding causes the dues to be so high, which makes people not want to join because it’s a club sport and nobody wants to pay four figures to do a club sport,” O’Donnell said.
Operating under the United States Figure Skating Association, the team is set to participate in three to four competitions per season. Under the association’s requirements, an Open Collegiate team should consist of eight to twenty members; SU has only seven members this year.
The team has consistently been ranked as a top competitor at USFSA events and won first place at sectional championships the past two years. The team, however, is unable to compete this year as it hasn’t met the membership requirement.
Without competitions, the team can only practice two or three times a week, paying for the ice time out of pocket.
Hailey Wong, the team’s bonding officer, said the expensive buildup of these fees can hurt the team’s success in the long run. She said such expenses are most likely the reason the team has lost a majority of its required numbers.
“Obviously, we want people who want to skate to be able to, but also factor in the huge sum of money as a college student,” Wong said. “Let’s say a super great skater wants to be on the team but pays her own tuition, how is she going to pay insane dues just to skate?”
The synchro team began in 2001 and later became a part of Orange Experience at SU as a club team. O’Donnell said the team has lost nearly half of its expected interest over the past year.
As the team is a club sport, it does not receive the same amount of funding from the university as divisional sports do. All fees for events, costumes, coaches, transportation and other expenses are paid for by the members themselves.
The funding problem has prompted the team to ask for help from the Syracuse community.
On Sept. 1, the team’s Instagram shared a post encouraging donations to its GoFundMe. The fundraiser hopes to raise $5000 to cover its various expenses, raising over $1,500 as of Tuesday.
The page states that any donation, big or small, makes a “huge difference” helping them “grow, compete, and represent the Orange community.”
Despite the difficult journey, the skaters have never lost their motivation to save the team. Rachel Ward, the team’s social media manager, said OESU’s continued passion for the club has supported the team for the last 24 years.
In addition to funding, O’Donnell said the main solution is finding more members. More skaters would help lessen the exhaustive fees and make being a part of the team more fulfilling, she said. She believes this could save the team in years to come.
“The team is definitely on the line, and possibly in danger,” O’Donnell said. “The best thing we can do is just recruit and talk to people and get them interested, get them there, and show them how fun it can be.”
Regardless of any obstacle that comes their way, Ward believes the team helps each other find the strength to fight through it.
“The work ethic and the want to continue the legacy of this team has kept us successful … It’s a very motivated group of people,” Ward said. “We just want to make our coach, the parents, and the people who come to support us proud.”
